Bob Rappaport

Bob Rappaport News

Purdue Pharma LP plans to apply for regulatory approval of a tamper-resistant competitor to Zogenix Inc.’s powerful pain pill, a move that could get its rival’s drug pulled from the market by U.S. regulators.

Titan Pharmaceuticals Inc. rose the most in almost four years after U.S. regulatory advisers recommended approval for the company’s experimental implant to treat addiction to heroin and prescription painkillers.

Pfizer Inc., Johnson & Johnson, and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. won the backing of a U.S. advisory panel to continue development of a class of experimental painkillers that have been linked to joint failure.

A pain patch from NeurogesX Inc., a specialty drugmaker that has never reported an annual profit, may not relieve pain related to nerve damage commonly associated with HIV, U.S. regulators said. The shares plunged 22 percent.

NeurogesX Inc. plunged the most in almost three years after U.S. regulators questioned whether the specialty drugmaker proved its patch relieves pain related to nerve damage commonly associated with HIV.

NeurogesX Inc., a specialty drugmaker that has never reported an annual profit, failed to win approval for expanded use of its pain-treating patch and said it will fire 57 percent of workers. The shares fell.

Doctors should be aware of the risks of giving the painkiller codeine to children with a certain genetic condition, following reports of three deaths and one illness, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said.

U.S. regulators asked an advisory panel whether Pfizer Inc. and Johnson & Johnson, the two biggest U.S. makers of health-care products, should resume human trials on a class of experimental painkillers linked to joint failure.

Eli Lilly & Co. , the drugmaker whose top three products face generic competition within three years, won a U.S. panel’s backing to expand use of the antidepressant Cymbalta in chronic knee and lower back pain.